Patriots Notebook: Tom Brady not pleased with 2-2 start

Tuesday

Oct 3, 2017 at 7:57 PMOct 3, 2017 at 7:57 PM

By Mark Daniels and Tim Britton@MarkDanielsPJ and @TimBritton

FOXBORO – This isn’t the way the Patriots saw their season beginning.

Tom Brady and his teammates have their backs against the wall, going on the road to Tampa Bay, with a disappointing 2-2 record. No one saw this happening, certainly not the Patriots. On Tuesday, Brady admitted as much, but it’s clear this team is sticking together.

“There’s always urgency here. There’s urgency in the spring, workouts and summer practices and so forth,” Brady said. “No one likes where we’re at, but we’re the only people who can do something about it. 2-2 is not where we want to be, but if you want to get to 3-2, you’ve got to play better than the way we played the first four weeks.

“It just requires a great level of commitment, attention to detail and obviously listening to the coaches, taking the coaches, bringing it to the field, performing well and then stringing those weeks together. We just haven’t done it well on a consistent basis and that really reflects on our record. It’s not great, but it’s also early. There’s a lot of football left.”

The problem certainly doesn’t fall on Brady. Entering Week 5, the Patriots have the top-ranked offense in the NFL, averaging 32.3 points per game. The issue thus far, falls on the defense, which ranks last in total defense and second to last in points allowed per game (32.0).

In typical Patriots fashion, you won’t see finger pointing. Brady was quick to point out that he’s had to rely on the defense, especially in his early years, to win games.

“I’ve been on teams where we didn’t score many points and we just relied on the defense to do everything. That’s just the way football is,” Brady said. “There’s going to be games where we don’t do that well on offense and we’re going to need the defense to play well. It’s four games in. We’ve got a long way to go. This team has never been about 'hey, what are you guys doing wrong?' We just focus on what we need to do.

“It's score more points than the other team. It doesn't matter if it's three points or 30 points or 50 points. Whatever they score we need to score more and if they score three then we need to score four. That's how you win. That's all we care about. That's all we've ever really cared about. So that's what we've got to do. I don't care however many they score, we've got to score more.”

Short week injuries

The Patriots had their first “practice” of the week on Tuesday. With such a short turnaround, the team had a light day and held a walkthrough. They’ll hold one more walkthrough, on Wednesday, before departing for Tampa.

In the first official practice, the Patriots were without Eric Rowe (groin). Rowe re-injured his groin on Sunday and almost certainly won’t play come Thursday. He was on the team’s injury report on Monday, labeled as out, with an ankle injury. With Rowe likely out, the Patriots will rely on Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore and Jonathan Jones against the Buccaneers passing attack.

Elandon Roberts practiced on Tuesday. He was listed as "out" on Monday's practice report even though the team didn't practice. Roberts was listed as limited with an ankle injury.

Nate Solder missed Tuesday's practice, but the absence was not injury related.

Flowers is next man up

The Patriots acquired Marquis Flowers on Aug. 29, nine days before they opened the season, to help shore up their special teams, which was dealing with injuries to Slater and Nate Ebner.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Flowers is listed as a linebacker on the roster, but has played little on defense since being drafted in the sixth round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014. That trend continued with the Patriots as he played two snaps in the first three games, matching his total in 16 games last season.

That changed Sunday as Flowers was pressed into service after Elandon Roberts departed with an ankle injury. He played 22 snaps and made a tackle in a 33-30 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

“It’s about being a professional, being ready to go when your number is called and helping the team out,” Flowers said Wednesday. “It was good to get in there and get some live action with a new defense and gets some good reps in.”

Flowers could find himself in a similar situation Thursday night, what with Roberts being limited in practice this week and fading veteran David Harris being a healthy scratch Sunday for the first time in his career.

Flowers will be ready to go and he believes so will the Patriots, the short week between games advantageous to a team dealing with a reeling defense as time constraints means the focus is on getting back to the basics.

“It’s very mental, it’s fundamental football,” the 25-year-old Phoenix native said. “It’s going back to fundamentals, what you did in training camp and OTAs. It’s about who can communicate and all that. It’s a very, very, very mental week and mental game.”

A Vegas Guy

Lawrence Guy is Las Vegas through and through, born and raised in a city his father and grandfather moved to in the late 1950s or early ’60s. The 27-year- old defensive lineman so loves his hometown his right arm is adorned with a colorful tattoo from the top of the shoulder to his wrist that is “old school” Vegas, one that pays homage to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the defunct Sands Hotel and Casino.

So when Guy heard early Monday morning about the mass shooting at a country music concert that wounded more than 500 and has left 59 dead, he was deeply distraught. He was heartened, though, that a cousin of his who attended the concert escaped unscathed.

“My heart goes out to everybody who was at the concert,” Guy said Monday. “I had a cousin who was there and he told me (Monday) it was real hectic. All we can do right now is pray for everybody out there, all the families who lost loved ones and are dealing with the shock of what’s going on. This is just a real sad thing that has occurred.”

Guy admitted it was surreal such an incident happened on streets he’s walked many times, but isn’t surprised to see the city rally in the face of such awesome adversity.

“It’s hard to see that. … It was unbelievable that it happened and how someone could think it’s normal, it’s OK to end people’s lives on a whim,” Guy said. “So, like I said, my heart goes out to everyone affected and the city is pulling together really well with the blood banks and everything. I feel like all we can do right now is to pray and support and reach out.”

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